Double Date
by Rhonda1
Summary: *Conclusion updated*...Vaughn and Sydney find themselves on an unexpected double date...but not with each other...and learn a few things along the way...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Only Sara is my creation. Vaughn, Sydney and Will are properties of  J.J. Abrams.

Summary: Vaughn and Sydney go on a double date…but not with each other…and learn a few things along the way.

Warehouse 

Sydney heard Vaughn's cell phone start to trill and looked up. He was always so conscientious about giving her his full attention that it surprised her to find out he'd left his phone on. If he was expecting a call he couldn't miss, she was curious as to whom it could be.

"Sorry." He gave her an apologetic look. She responded with a shrug as he answered his call. She noticed he looked at the number displaying on his Caller ID before saying anything.

"Hello?" _So it wasn't work, otherwise he'd have answered "Vaughn"_.

"Oh, hi." His voice lost its professional edge. _A personal call, then_?

"I did too." He agreed with his caller. _Did what_?

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it." _He was excited about something_?

"Uh-huh. 7:30. I'll see you then." He ended his call. "Sorry." He said again. "I had it on in the car and I forgot to turn it off before I came in."

"It's all right." Sydney said neutrally, her mind doing cartwheels as she tried to piece together Vaughn's side of the conversation. "You're allowed to have a personal life."

Vaughn caught her gaze. "What makes you think it was a personal call?"  
  


"Well, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but seeing how it's pretty unavoidable in this small space, I did hear you say you were looking forward to something." She gave him a pointed look. "And I'm assuming you're not socializing with Devlin after hours…"

"No." His face creased into a grin, but didn't elaborate further.

"Hmmm, not talking, huh?" She gave him a shrewd look. "Okay, so let's see if I can figure this out." Her eyes took on a mischievous gleam.

"Sydney, it's no big deal." Vaughn said uncomfortably.

"No, let me practice my deduction skills." She insisted. "Now we know it was a personal call."

"You never did make it clear to me why you thought it was personal." Vaughn looked at her.  "Just because I'm looking forward to something doesn't mean it can't be about work."

"Yeah, right, having everyone around you scrutinize your every move is really something to be excited about." Sydney said mockingly. "No, this was personal. I could tell by the tone of your voice. You didn't sound so professional and self-assured."

"Plus you said hello instead of 'Vaughn.' If it was work, you would have identified yourself."

Okay, he would give her that. "Fine, it was personal. Can we get back to your mission now?" He said hopefully.

But Sydney was not to be deterred. "Your caller was a woman, wasn't it?"  
  


"Not a bad guess, Agent Bristow, considering you have a 50/50 shot." He drawled, trying to hide his surprise that she was doing pretty well with her conjecturing.

Sydney treated him to a full-dimpled smile. "What can I say? I'm good."

"Or just lucky." He kidded her.

She stuck out her tongue. "So was it your mother?"

_Ah-ha, so she wasn't quite as good as she thought she was_. "Why would you assume the only woman who would call me would be my mother?"  
  


It was Sydney's turn to be surprised. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were seeing someone." Sydney felt strangely perturbed at the thought of Vaughn dating.

"Well, not really. I mean, it's only a second date." He confessed.

"Second date, huh?" She tried to sound unaffected. "Well, the first date must have gone well if you asked her out again."

"It went all right." He said casually.

"So what's she like?" Sydney asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.

"Sara? Oh, I don't know." Vaughn shrugged. "Blonde, blue eyes, petite."

"Oh, you mean, your type." Sydney blurted out before she knew what she was saying.

Vaughn raised an eyebrow. "And you know my type how?"

"Well, I saw that picture of—what was her name again?" Sydney knew perfectly well who Alice was, but damned if she'd let him know she bothered to remember.

"Alice." Vaughn said patiently.

"That's right. Alice." Sydney reacted as if he'd just jogged her memory. "Anyway, I saw her picture and wasn't she blonde and blue-eyed, too?"

"You seemed to have gotten a lot out of only seeing a picture once and briefly at that." He noted with interest.

"I have an eye for detail." She said loftily.

"Evidently." He deadpanned. "But for your information, I didn't ask her out, so you really can't say that I sought her out based on her looks." He told her. "Weiss fixed me up with her, actually. She lives in his building."

"Hmpf." Sydney sniffed dismissively. "If she's so great, why didn't he ask her out himself?"

"Eric has it in his head that I need a distraction from work. He thinks I think about it too much." Vaughn didn't elaborate that Weiss actually thought he thought about _her_ too much, but then that wasn't the sort of thing Sydney should know, anyway.

"He's probably right." She said grudgingly. It felt petty of her to be miffed that Vaughn was trying to do what everyone else on the planet was trying to do, so she tried to tone down her animosity towards the magnificent "Sara."

"You know, since we're talking about it, I wanted to ask you if you had any restaurant recommendations." Vaughn asked, oblivious to Sydney's inner turmoil.

He_ was asking _her_ for a way to impress his new girlfriend_! Sydney fumed. _Well, you are 'friends_._' _The sane voice in her head pointed out. _Friends do that for one another_.

"I've heard that Marquise is pretty hot." She finally responded. "If you like French." She added.

"I am kind of partial to French cooking." He smiled, as if he knew a secret she wasn't privy to. "Thanks, Sydney."

*      *      *      *

The next day, Sydney arrived home from work, cranky and tired. Francie was out with Charlie, so she would be home by herself, which was fine with her. She planned on a quick dinner of chicken soup, a long soak in a bubble bath and then blissful slumber under her warm quilts.

Sydney dropped her bag on the couch and then ambled into the kitchen. She was just grabbing a pot from the rack as the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Syd, it's me."

"Well, long time no see, stranger." She said teasingly as she leaned against the counter. "Jenny keeping you busy?"

Will winced. "We're not dating." He said emphatically.

"Uh-huh." Sydney said knowingly. "So what's up?"

"Well, I was calling to ask you if you'd eaten yet." 

"No, but I was just about to heat up some soup."

"Well, cancel that and come out with me instead."

"What's the occasion?"

"No occasion." Will said offhandedly. "Can't I ask my best friend—who I haven't seen in days because of her thankless job--to go out to dinner?"

Sydney rolled her eyes at Will's tone. "Sure, where do you want to go?"

"How does Marquise sound to you?"

Sydney did a double take.  Which should have surprised her more? That Will would spring for a dinner at an expensive French restaurant or that that was the exact same restaurant she had recommended to Vaughn?

"Will, are you serious?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

  
"Because Marquise is like the hottest restaurant in town right now, not to mention outrageously expensive." She pointed out. "And let's face it, my friend, your cheapness is legendary."

"Okay, okay," Will gave in. "Truth is I'm in the doghouse with my editor and she passed this assignment on to me as punishment because our regular reviewer has food poisoning."

"Assignment?" Sydney repeated with glee. "Are you saying you have to review the restaurant?" She giggled. "Will Tippin, intrepid investigative reporter, is doing a fluff piece restaurant review!" She crowed.

"Don't make it worse than it is, Syd."

"Oh, poor baby!" She crooned. "Well, I am certainly not going to pass on an expensive meal at an exclusive French restaurant, so I say, pick me up in an hour!"

After a shower and shampoo, Sydney blow-dried her hair until it fell in a soft, shiny mane. She proceeded to do a quick makeup job and then went over to her closet to find something to wear.

She finally decided on a curve-hugging black halter dress. It flattered her figure tremendously and on the off chance that she did see Vaughn that night, she wanted him to be impressed. It had occurred to her that he had never seen her in full glamour mode ("_Let's see…bozo hair, tank tops, heavy winter coats…nope, no glamour there_.") and it was high time he did.

_To be continued…_


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Only Sara is my creation. Vaughn, Sydney and Will are properties of  J.J. Abrams.

Summary: Vaughn and Sydney go on a double date…but not with each other…and learn a few things along the way.

**Marquise Restaurant**

Vaughn sensed her presence before he actually saw her. It was uncanny how in tune he was to her; how he knew the scent of her perfume or the sound of her footsteps or the measure of her breathing as she sidled up next to him whenever they met at the newsstand or the coffeehouse or the bagel place. He told himself it meant something, although he wasn't sure what.

He looked up from his menu and there she was. Sydney was standing next to a tall, slightly rumpled blond-haired man, who was talking to the maitre'd. She looked incredible in a little black number that bared her shoulders, revealing her fabulous figure and long legs. He almost couldn't take his gaze away from her until he realized that Sara was speaking to him.

As they waited to be seated, Sydney made a casual survey of the dining room. It was beautifully decorated, with burgundy carpeting, cream damask tablecloths, fine crystal and elegant china. She wasn't one to be overly conscious of the finer things in life, but once in awhile, it was nice to be pampered.

"I could never afford this place in a million years." Will said under his breath.

Sydney grinned. "Well, then we'll just have to indulge as much as the newspaper's budget will allow." She intended to sample a variety of dishes tonight, including dessert. Sydney Bristow was one of the lucky ones who could eat whatever she wanted, never gaining an ounce. Of course, it helped that she was always beating up on bad guys, but hey, if that was the price one paid for keeping her girlish figure, so be it.

As the maitre'd led them to a table near the window, Sydney finally laid eyes upon Vaughn and his date. As women invariably do when faced with "competition," Sydney contemplated Sara with a critical eye. Vaughn had been accurate about the wavy blonde hair and blue eyes. Sydney could tell that Sara was several inches shorter than she was, thus making her "petite," a word which always made her feel as she were a giant. Sara was pretty in a perky way, which made Sydney think that she must have been a cheerleader in high school. At the moment, Sara was laughing at something Vaughn had said to her and Sydney frowned.

The maitre'd handed them their menus and then left them. Sydney immediately opened her menu, so that she wouldn't stare at Vaughn and Sara while Will scanned the room, looking for possible celebrity sightings to spice up his review.

"You know what?" Will suddenly said. "I know her."

"Who?" Sydney looked up.  
  


"That girl at the next table. Sitting with that guy in the suit." Will cast a surreptitious glance at the table next to them. "Sheesh, do guys even wear suits to dinner anymore or did that go out in the sixties?"

Some defensive mechanism kicked in and Sydney bristled for Vaughn. "_I_ think he looks very nice." She said frostily.

Will gave her a strange look. "No need to get huffy." He chastised her. "It's not as if you know the guy."

_Oops_! Maybe a little too much passion for her subject. "Well, you don't, either, so you shouldn't be insulting him." She said, much more mildly.

Will frowned at her. "Do you want to hear how I know her or what?"

"Okay, how do you know her?"

"I went to high school with her. We dated in our senior year. I took her to the Prom."

"How nice." Sydney commented. "She didn't happen to be a cheerleader, did she?" She inquired.

Will looked surprised. "How did you know?"

"Lucky guess." She shrugged. "So why did the Greatest Love Story Ever Told end? Did she dump you?" Sydney needled Will sweetly.

He made a face at her. "Actually, we lost touch because she was going to some school back East. Do you mind if I go over and say hello?"

Sydney debated with herself for a moment. She was insanely curious about the woman sitting with her handler (not to mention a tad jealous), but it seemed intrusive to horn in on his date. This wasn't a work situation; he was just trying to have a normal life. What right did she—his work obligation—have to invade his personal life?

Sydney wasn't quite sure why she was so piqued that Vaughn was dating. After Danny's death, she hadn't thought that she would ever feel anything for another man ever again, but then Vaughn came along. She was finally at a point where she could admit to herself that she found him attractive, but then what did it say about her that she was interested in someone with whom she couldn't ever be seen in public? Was she deliberately sabotaging herself by falling for the one guy who could get her killed if they even went out on a date?

"Syd?" Will interrupted her thoughts. "You don't have to treat this as if I just asked you to launch a nuclear attack. I only want to go over and say hello."

"Fine, I'll go with you." She stood up. _To hell with ethics_. She was going to go scope out the competition.

"Sara?" Will approached Vaughn's table.

The pretty blonde looked up and her eyes widened. "Will Tippin! What in the world are you doing here?" She jumped up to hug him.

While the two ex-classmates reminisced, Sydney took the time to share a glance with Vaughn. In this soft lighting, he looked different to her somehow. More relaxed, maybe?

"I'm sorry, I don't know where my manners are." Will cupped Sydney's elbow in a possessive (to Vaughn) manner. "This is Sydney Bristow, my date. Sydney, this is Sara Andrews and…" He looked inquiringly at Vaughn.

"Michael Vaughn." He replied, standing up to shake Will's hand, still hearing the words "my date" in his head. He nodded at Sydney, who had a frozen smile on her face. He could tell she wasn't too happy about something.

_What the hell was Will thinking introducing her as his "date_?_" _Sydney plastered the phony smile to her face as she murmured pleasantries to Sara and "Michael."

"So, Will, you have to tell me what's been going on with your life." Sara said enthusiastically. "Won't you both join us?" She looked at Vaughn for confirmation.

"Oh, yes, please join us." He invited them.

"Are you sure?" Sydney looked at him. "We don't want to intrude."

"You wouldn't be." His eyes met hers.

Sydney wound up sitting next to him as they pushed the tables together. He could smell her perfume—surprisingly light and floral—and it drove him crazy.

To tear his mind away from thought of Sydney and her bare shoulders, Vaughn took a few moments to study Will. Sydney had mentioned him numerous times—for some reason, Will was always eating at her house, the lucky bastard—but he had always gotten the impression that they were just friends. Vaughn observed the mussed-up hair, the scruffy day-old stubble, the mismatched tie and shirt. Could Sydney really go for a guy like that?

"Hey, this menu is all in French!" Will suddenly exclaimed.

"Well, that's to be expected, don't you think, considering that this is a French restaurant?" Vaughn didn't mean to sound superior, but hey, he was in a rare social situation _with Sydney_ and he had to impress her somehow.

Will gave a little glare to Vaughn. "What I meant was that how am I supposed to order if I don't know what anything is?"

"Oh, don't worry about it!" Sara waved her hand. "Michael was born in France, so he's fluent in French. He can translate for you, Will."

"You're fluent in French?" Sydney blurted out and then blushed when she realized how fawning she sounded. _You're only supposed to have met the guy 10 minutes ago_! She reminded herself. Still, it bothered her that she didn't even know a simple fact about him like where he'd been born.

Vaughn stepped in to save her without missing a beat. "Yeah, actually a lot of people born in France are fluent in French." He quipped as Sara giggled appreciatively. Sydney was dismayed. Vaughn was being witty and charming. She didn't like him being witty and charming for another girl. Call it possessive of her, but she did know him first, after all.

"What's the big deal about speaking French, anyway?" Will complained. He was getting a weird vibe that he was being cast as the odd man out in this situation. He would expect it of Sara, since she was the guy's date and all, but Sydney, too? He gave the other man a slightly biased eye. Okay, so maybe he was good-looking, but not Brad-Pitt-in-Legends-of-the-Fall gorgeous.

Sara smirked. "Like you should talk." She looked at Sydney and Vaughn. "Will was famous for having to take Spanish 1 for three straight years in high school."

"Oh, Will, no!" Sydney rolled her eyes with a grin as Will groaned.

"God, Sara, you know that was Señora Birnbaum's fault, not mine!"

Sarah shook her head with a laugh. "Will, you know she passed everybody as long as you showed up to class!"

"Oh, so you were a juvenile delinquent!" Sydney kidded him. Vaughn's mouth quirked as he watched how easygoing she was with Will. Would they ever have that sort of relationship or were they destined to always be so closed-off and professional?

"So what do you do for a living, Mike?" Will asked, trying to take the heat off of himself. Surely, he'd be able to score a point on this one. What was a more glamorous job than being a hard-nosed, fearless investigative reporter?

Sara spoke before Vaughn could answer. "Michael works for the CIA." She announced in a hushed tone.

Sydney nearly choked on her wine. _What in the world was he thinking telling her he worked for the CIA_?_ Didn't he realize—wait a minute, Vaughn worked for the CIA, not SD-6_. He _could tell everyone whom he worked for_. She _was the one who had to keep it a secret from everyone she cared about_.

Will paled, seemingly foiled again. "You're an agent with the CIA?" He said disbelievingly.

Sara giggled and answered for Vaughn again. "Oh, Will, don't be silly! Michael is an _accountant_ for the CIA!"

Sydney couldn't help but choke this time as she struggled to hold in her laughter. An _accountant_! Oh, she would never let him live this down!

"Syd, are you all right?" Will jumped up and thumped her on the back a few times.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." She sputtered, still coughing. _Way to be inconspicuous, Syd_! She noticed Vaughn turning several shades of red. "The wine just went down the wrong way."

After announcing that dinner would be on him because he was on the newspaper's expense account (_Score one for Will_), Will ordered a number of dishes for them to sample (with Vaughn's assistance, of course). Vaughn selected an excellent bottle of wine to go with the meal (_Another point for Vaughn_). 

The conversation flowed and everyone seemed to be getting along well. Sydney found the whole experience to be surreal. She was sitting in a fancy French restaurant with one of her best friends, who was trying to make everyone think he was her boyfriend.  One of her dinner companions were her best friend's high school girlfriend, who was now trying to make time with a man Sydney was secretly interested in. Her other dinner companion was none other than her colleague/Handler/Guardian Angel/potential boyfriend. It was all too circuitous to comprehend.

Vaughn also found the situation to be a bit bizarre. It was strange to be sitting there making small talk to a person you knew rather well, pretending to find out for the first time where she went to school, where she worked, what she was studying. But at the same time, he liked being with Sydney in an environment where they didn't have to be on guard all the time. They were actually in public together and it wasn't a suspicion-arousing event.

After dinner, Sara suggested they go to a nearby club within walking distance of the restaurant. Will enthusiastically agreed and he and Sara started down the sidewalk, laughing at another story concerning their high school antics. Sydney and Vaughn walked behind them, both wondering who would be the first to break the somewhat awkward silence between them.

Sydney took the bull by the horns. "So is this too weird or what?" She said in a low voice.

"Definitely." Vaughn agreed. "I couldn't believe it when I saw you standing there. Especially after you were the one who suggested this restaurant to me in the first place." He said pointedly.

Sydney looked sideways at him. "You don't think I told you about this place because I was going to be here tonight, do you?"

He raised an eyebrow at her and didn't say a word.

Sydney eyes widened in disbelief. "Well, I didn't." She said forcefully. "I wasn't planning to go out at all tonight."

"But then Will called and you jumped at the chance to go out with him?" He tried to keep the accusatory tone out of his voice. After all, he didn't have any say in the men she went out with. But that didn't mean he had to like it, either. "I do have a vague recollection of Will introducing you as his date." He reminded her.

"Will and I are friends." Sydney replied. "We're _not_ dating." She stated flatly, so that he got the message.

"Do you always go out with your _friends_ to romantic French restaurants?" Vaughn asked, an ironic tone in his voice.

Sydney's lips pursed together. "Why are you questioning my relationship with Will?"

Vaughn opened his mouth to say something and then closed it abruptly. "I-I don't know." He finally said truthfully. "I guess it just threw me for a moment to see you in a distinctly non-working environment."

Sydney gave him a little smile. "Yeah, me too." She confessed. "It's as if we're breaking the rules somehow."

"Devlin would have a cow if he knew what we were doing tonight." Vaughn commented.

"Not to mention my father." She agreed. "And Sloane."

"But it's not as if we made this situation happen." He pointed out.

"Right, we were just innocent bystanders." Sydney added. "If we didn't know each other, this still could have happened."

"Do you ever wonder about that, Sydney?" Vaughn asked in a serious tone. "If we didn't know each other and just happened to meet by chance?"

"I don't believe that anything happens by chance." She replied. "It's all about destiny and fate."

"So there's a reason I was the one they called when you walked into Headquarters that day?" He said quietly, wondering if she was right. They say that everyone has a soulmate somewhere in the world, but how tragic was it that his was a woman he couldn't have? He would protect her with his life, but in order to do that, it would mean that they would always be apart.

Sydney nodded solemnly. "You and I were destined to meet. I mean, we were _connected_ before we even knew of each other's existence."

"Because of your mom and my dad." They fell silent as they thought of the two people who were always between them, the two people who served as reminders of what was and what might have been.

"So, Sara seems nice." Sydney tried to get their conversation back on a nice, even keel.

"Yeah," Vaughn said, though not too enthusiastically, Sydney was quick to notice.

"Are you going to go out with her again?"

"I don't know. She's a great girl, but…" He shrugged. "You don't think she's too…giggly?"

Sydney cracked a grin. "Well, maybe in comparison to the stoic Agent Vaughn?" She teased him and he treated her to a wide smile that showed the laugh lines in his face, a smile that completely took your breath away. She was utterly charmed by this rare occurrence and wished he would do it more often.

"I'm not that bad, am I?" He ducked his head sheepishly.

"Well, you could smile more often." She kidded him. "It would go completely against your very convincing 'accountant' persona." Sydney chuckled.

"Oh, that." He gave her an embarrassed look.

"Couldn't you just have been a regular accountant?" She said teasingly. "Why do you have to be a _CIA_ accountant?"  
  


"That's actually Weiss' fault." He explained. "I don't go around telling total strangers what I do for a living, but he'll tell anyone who will listen that he works for the CIA."

"You're kidding!" She grinned.

"Yeah, maybe he doesn't fit the mold of what the public thinks when they think 'CIA,' but no one ever believes him until he shows them his ID."

"Isn't that kind of dangerous? What if he blabs to the wrong person?"  
  


"Well, I may have been exaggerating a little." Vaughn acknowledged. "He really only tells people he knows and Sara does live in his building. She knows we work together."

"So when do you tell?" Sydney asked interestedly. "I mean, did you do the same thing with Alice?"

"I didn't tell her right away. I personally don't feel comfortable broadcasting that information unless I know a person really well." He paused. "I didn't tell Alice until we'd been dating for six months."

"Was she mad?"

"Yeah," Vaughn could still remember the look of shock in her eyes when he'd told her what he _really _did for a living. "She was furious. She didn't speak to me for a week."

"She thought you didn't trust her."

He nodded. "I had a devil of a time trying to convince her that it wasn't about her. It was about me trying to protect myself."

"I wouldn't have been too happy with that explanation, either." Sydney told him. "I mean, how can you be in a relationship with someone and not show them who you really are? If they don't know the real you, then you'll never be truly happy together." She said heatedly.

Vaughn was a little taken aback by her outburst and she noticed right away.

Sydney suddenly flushed. "I'm sorry. That sounded so self-righteous. Who am I to tell you how to behave in a relationship? I tried to be completely honest and ended up killing my fiancé." She tried to be flip, but failed miserably.

"You didn't kill him, Sydney." Vaughn said quietly.

"Not literally, but I made it happen." She struggled to swallow the lump in her throat. "So Alice eventually took you back, though, didn't she?"  
  


"After much groveling on my part. When I look back now, I wonder why she put up with all the crap I dumped on her." Vaughn paused. "Before I told her about my real job, I was always making up excuses for why I had to miss Christmas or her birthday or her cousin's wedding. And then after I told her and I could tell her the real reason why I had to be out of town or 'unavailable,' she still stayed with me."

"It was because she loved you, Vaughn." Sydney said simply. "Loving a person helps you to overlook a lot of their flaws."

She liked this, Sydney realized. She liked talking to Vaughn about things other than work--real things, things that mattered. It made their relationship seem more grounded, more tangible, more able to exist in real life. Because their working relationship wasn't based on anything real. That was all spy stuff and covert missions and secret codes and trying to stay alive. It might have been what brought them together, but she didn't want it to be the only thing they had between them. 

"This is nice." He uttered softly.

"What?"  
  


"Being able to walk with you and talk with you without fear." He looked at her. "Sometimes I feel like when you and I see each other, it isn't real. We're always having to meet in secret or on the sly and we talk about you doing implausible tasks and being in great danger. That's just an impossible way to live."

"But what we're doing right now, this feels real to me." Vaughn went on. "I just wish it could be the norm, rather than the exception."

Sydney gave him a little smile. _So he felt it, too_. "Me too." She whispered ruefully.

Will and Sara were waiting for them at the entrance to the club. The place was crowded, but not overly so, and Will was able to snag a table while Sara and Vaughn went to the dance floor. Sydney was kind of interested in seeing Vaughn cut loose, but from where they were sitting, she couldn't see them.

"Syd, I have to ask you something." Will leaned in close, more than a little tipsy. A waitress came by and took their drink orders. Sydney ordered her second glass of wine for the night and made Will order a mineral water.

"First, you'd better explain to me why you introduced me as your date?" She gave him the evil eye.

"Oh, that." Will flushed. "I was just trying to make a good impression."

"What kind of good impression are you making by lying to them about our relationship?" She countered. "And why is it a good impression if Sara and Va—Michael think we're dating?"

"I wanted Sara to think that I was a good enough catch that I could get a beautiful girl like you." Will said sincerely, although the wine might have been flowering up his words a bit.

"Oh, Will," In spite of herself, Sydney was moved.

"Anyway, it's not as if they know us!" Will chided her. "They're not going to care if we're dating or not!"

_Well, I hope that's not true_, Sydney thought to herself. Because she did want him to care. It surprised her to realize how much she wanted that.

"So, Syd, what do you think of Sara's date?" Will asked in a nonchalant way.

"You mean Va—Michael?" She covered her flub by taking a sip of her wine. "He's nice." She said noncommittally.

"You don't think there's something…distrustful about him?" Will said skeptically.

"Distrustful?" Sydney was confused by Will's choice of words.  "Oh, I think you mean untrustworthy."

"What's the difference?" Will said impatiently.

"Well, if he was distrustful, then he wouldn't be trusting of you, which isn't the case." Sydney pointed out. "You don't trust him, so he would be untrustworthy."

Will was sober enough to roll his eyes. "Remind me again who the journalist is?"

"Precisely my point." She gave him a sweet smile. "It's your own fault, anyway, for drinking all that wine at dinner."

"Isn't it part of res-tau-rant reviewing to sample the wine list?" Will said his words carefully so as not to slur them.

"Va—Michael (_God, would his name ever roll from her tongue naturally_?) ordered a wonderful bottle of wine." Sydney retorted. "He said they had a very nice wine list."

"Yeah, like I would trust anything _he _says." Will scoffed. "He's hiding something."

"Oh, Will, what could he possibly be hiding?" She chastised him.

"I don't know." He shrugged impatiently. "What about that whole CIA thing?"  
  


"You don't think he's telling the truth about being an accountant?" She said with an amazingly straight face.

"Oh, I can buy the accountant part, but come on, Syd, he doesn't exactly look CIA." Will rolled his eyes.

Sydney was amused. "Oh, and you know what a CIA agent looks like, do you?" _And how would you react if you knew you were sitting here talking to one right now_?

"Doesn't everyone?" Will said flippantly. "Why are we talking about this again?"

"You were the one who brought it up."

"Oh, right." He said absently. "Do you think he's interested in Sara?"

"And you're asking because…"

"I was thinking of asking for her number."  
  


A light dawned. "Oh, so that's why you don't like him." She said shrewdly. "You want her for yourself."

"I never said I didn't like him." Will hedged. "But let's face it, _you _have more chemistry with the guy than she does and you just met him."

For a moment, Sydney froze. Was Will joking or was he more observant than she thought?

"Don't exaggerate, Will." She scolded him "I just met the man."

Will ignored her jibe. "So do you think I should or not?"

Sydney wasn't sure she should be the one to answer Will's question. She wasn't exactly a disinterested third party, after all. What if she told Will that he shouldn't and Sara and Vaughn ended up getting involved and one day he arrived at the warehouse to tell her he was _engaged_!?!

"_Hi, Syd_. _How was Buenos Aires_? _Did you get the codes_? _By the way, I asked Sara to marry me last night and she said yes_!"

Sydney shook her head to clear it. She was getting way ahead of herself.

"Go for it, Will." She heard herself saying.

His eyes lit up. "You think so?"

"If you want her, you have to take a shot."

Will smiled. "Thanks, Syd." He grabbed her hand. "Come on, let's go dance! I want to go cut in on Sara!"

Sydney followed Will, an enormous wave of guilt washing over her. Who did she think she was? _Arvin Sloane_? She had no right to play God with other people's lives!

The only thing that would make her feel better would be to confess to Vaughn what she had done. At least if he knew what Will was planning and he wanted to stop it, he'd be able to head him off at the pass.

"Hey, do you mind if I cut in?" Sydney realized Will had danced them over to Vaughn and Sara. Sara looked thrilled. Vaughn looked hesitant.

"Sydney?" Vaughn said. "Do you want to dance?" _God, why did this feel like the 8th grade mixer all over again_?

"Sure." She allowed herself to be drawn into his strong arms. She should have been thoroughly enjoying the moment, but she couldn't. Not with the confession she had to make hanging over her head.

"Vaughn?" She said huskily in his ear.

"Hmmm?"

"I have a confession to make."

He drew back to look at her. "Are you going to tell me I'm a terrible dancer?" He said, mock seriously.

"I—no, that's…you're not a terrible dancer." She stammered out. "You're very good."

"Well, that's a relief." He grinned at her. "So then what's your big confession?"

Sydney made herself look him in the eyes. "Will asked me if I thought he should ask Sara for her number and I said yes." The words came out in a rush. Vaughn was staring at her so intently (_with shock? Disappointment? Gratitude?_) that she had to look away.

Vaughn tried to absorb the words Sydney had just uttered. She had given her blessing to Will to try and steal his date? It was true he'd admitted to her that he wasn't nuts about Sara, but that didn't give her any right to put a stop to things before they even began. He knew he should have been furious with Sydney, but he couldn't quite work up to it. Maybe because he suddenly realized that she might have tried to sabotage his relationship with Sara because she was _jealous_. Now that was a delicious possibility indeed.

"Will you say something please?"

"What do you want me to say?" He struggled to maintain an aloof façade.

"I don't know! Yell at me, tell me to butt out of your life, anything!" She said pleadingly. "Just don't stand there and look at me with that disappointed look on your face."

She sounded so miserable he had to give in. "Oh, Syd, I'm not going to yell at you." He gave a laugh.

"You're not?"

He shook his head. "Sara's a nice person, but it's not as if there's this powerful attraction between us." His eyes met hers and she couldn't look away even if she wanted to. "If she and Will have…rekindled whatever was left from their high school days, who am I to put a damper on things?" He shrugged indifferently.

Sydney could still feel the pull of Vaughn's magnetism towards her. Maybe Will wasn't so off-base, after all. _If only it weren't so dangerous…_

Sydney smiled. "You're a nice guy, you know that?" She murmured.

His mouth quirked. "And nice guys finish last?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Not with me." She whispered in his ear.

THE END


End file.
